Half Term Day 1 - Valentine's Day

Some of my favourite blogs to look back on are my diary style ones of holidays or trips away, so I thought I'd write a blog a day during half term. Here goes...

I started today with a lush lie in while the boys watched cartoons downstairs. Mr B and I exchanged Valentine's cards then Henry and I then got dressed and went off to meet our friends at the farm for the morning.

 Henry had a whale of a time with his little friends and it was lovely catching up with my friends over a cup of tea while the boys played. We fed the animals, saw day old chicks and had a tractor ride...all in all, a lovely morning. Henry was absolutely shattered and then had a long nap when we got in so we all went to bed for an hour or so to catch up on some sleep.

My mum came over tonight to babysit so we could go out for a baby-free dinner for Valentine's Day. We went to Akbars in Newcastle, one of our favourite places. It was lovely getting dressed up, holding hands, chatting over dinner and wine and then singing really loudly along to Blur on the way home. After we'd finished dinner we got a text from my mum to say that Henry was fast asleep so we made the most of it and went out for a drink on the way home. We're so lucky to have her and if you're reading this in years to come, Henry, I promise that we'll babysit for you on Valentine's Day.

We're now drinking pink fizz in our PJs after a successful February 14th...last year we were driving back from Norfolk, Mr B had acute sickness and diarrhoea and had to be left in a Travelodge on the A1 while I drove home, feeling really poorly myself, with the dog and a 5 month old baby in the back!! Not such a successful Valentine's Day.

Cooking with Mummy

When I was a little girl I used to cook with my mum and my grandparents all the time and I've always looked forward to the day when I could cook with my own children. We tried baking a few months back and it was a disaster, all Henry wanted to do was pull the cases out of the bun tray and put them in to the cake mixture; he did look cute in his apron though!

He loves making bread in the breadmaker with my mum and so I decided to enlist his 'help' whilst making meatballs this evening. He loved it! He loved squeezing the mixture and passing it to me to roll and kept waving at it for some bizarre reason; he really makes me laugh. He then liked watching them cook in the tomato sauce and ate loads once they were ready. He wasn't a big help, but he was no bother either and I can't wait for many more cooking adventures together.

Thrilled to see the ingredients all mixed together! 

Waving at a meatball, as you do.

Helping Mummy

And yes, 2 blog posts in 1 day is very impressive for me! I'm planning on doing a diary style post every day during half term as we have so much planned it'll be nice to look back on in the years to come.

Baby's summer wardrobe

I remember a few years ago my sister in law telling me that she loved choosing clothes for the kids when she went shopping and I have to admit, I never thought I'd be the same. Those were in the selfish days where I spent every last penny of my wages on me, the days where I'd plan my own outfits carefully if we were going out or going away. Nowadays I do the same for Henry. I wear whatever is clean and ironed, but Henry's clothes are planned carefully in advance. Every night before bed I get out his clothes for the next day and if we go away I know exactly what he'll wear every day; I LOVE dressing him. I would never have thought I'd be like this, especially about a little boy's clothes. Yes I could see myself getting excited over tutus and matching tights, but dungarees, really?! How things have changed.

My little one is 18 months old next month and is coming to the end of his 12-18month clothes now, boo hoo! He's really growing up. The worst part about it is the next size, 18-24m, is the last 'baby' size in the shops. In some shops it's not even a baby size; Next and Mothercare class my child as a younger boy, not a baby. How dare they?! Anyway we realised last week that we have virtually nothing in the next size. We have a few pairs of trousers, all of which are absolutely enormous still, but nothing else. Henry's next set of clothes need to see us right through the summer, so I've tried to buy a few things that can be layered up; t shirts that he can wear with long sleeved vests for the time being and thin-knit jumpers and cardis that can be worn outside in the summer or inside for now. Here are a few of my favourite bits that we bought, they're all from the current season so if any of them take your fancy, they should still be available. Who would have thought I would ever be excited by a small grey t shirt with a soldier on the front...perhaps I need to get out more!!

Little soldier t shirt - Boden 

Nautical Jumper - The White Company

Clockwise from top left:

Crab t shirt - Jojo Maman Bebe

Farm t shirt - Joules

Knitted hoodie - The White Company

Short dungarees - John Lewis

Shorts and t short set - John Lewis

A rare morning off

As you will know I work every morning Monday to Friday and although I actually love working those hours, I do really miss out on going to baby groups with Henry. There are virtually no groups on afternoons and so I usually only take Henry to baby gym on a Friday. I've also found it impossible to find anywhere that I can take him swimming each week unless we get actual lessons which is really annoying, but that's another story for another day!!

Work needed me to swap my hours today so I worked his afternoon instead of this morning and it was such a rare and lovely treat to spend the whole morning with my little one. 

My mum usually takes Henry to a music group on a Tuesday morning so Marmar had a well earned morning off while I took Henry. I would like to say he loved it and I was really proud of him, but he was actually a little tinker and was more interested in doing naughty things than playing instruments and singing! Having said that, it was lovely to see him interacting with other children and to chat to some of the other mummies that know Henry so well, yet that I've never met. It was strange walking in and total strangers saying hello to Henry.

Afterwards we went to a food and gift market up the road that we try to go to each month. We stocked up on our usual dairy free treats and had a wander round outside so Henry could see all of the animals. It was so lovely having a relaxed and lazy morning, just wandering around and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine; it really felt like Spring today.

Back to my normal hours tomorrow and I must say, I'm looking forward to an afternoon nap, but this morning was just perfect and I loved every second.

Our weekend, in pictures

Mr B was out on Friday night and although I absolutely love our Fridays in together, it was a rare treat to have a quiet Friday to myself with no one to share my pudding/sweets/remote with! I watched Gone Girl, ate crap and had an early night. What a treat.

Saturday lunch out with Mr B and Henry, lush. Hen was tired and pretty grumpy but managed to demolish a huge plate of spaghetti.

Cocktail in a teapot. Afternoon tea with friends, no boys allowed. A rare treat. It was lovely to be able to chat without doing Peppa Pig colouring in at the same time.

Sunday lunch at Knitsley Farm. This is Henry waving to the hens while we were there. He was absolutely thrilled that they were making noises and coming to see him at the fence.

Off to the park to feed the swans and ducks...apart from Henry took quite a shine to the bread and ate most of it himself. He was squealing in delight at the birds though, so sweet.

My boys.

Gorgeous chilli beef stir fry for dinner from the farm shop. A super easy and tasty tea.

Henry helping me make a beef casserole to eat tomorrow night; it's still bubbling away on the hob and smells amazing. 

Precious moments

When I left work today I arrived home to a poorly and sad boy. Nothing serious, just a temperature and he was refusing to eat, which is always a sure sign that something's up because he usually loves his food. We had planned to go to a little play centre and have a wander round town but instead changed our plans and had a PJ afternoon at home, just the two of us. We got snuggled up as soon as we got in, read a few books and watched some Peppa. He'd spent the whole morning asleep at my mum's (very out of character) but when I cuddled him in on the sofa, he snuggled in and fell asleep...next thing I knew it was almost 2 hours later and we'd both been sleeping soundly together for all that time. 

As I cuddled him close, his head warm, I couldn't help but treasure such a beautiful moment. Not perfect, we'd rather have been out in town, but I love these pure, raw moments of motherhood the best. I love that when he's poorly, only I will do. I love that he wants to snuggle for that bit longer and sleep in my arms, something that he won't want to do forever. So today hasn't been a total write-off, I hope my little one is brighter in the morning, but until then, I'm enjoying these snuggles while they last.

Love at 16 months

I haven't done a regular monthly update for a while now and I'll probably only do one at 18 months, but today I was just thinking about how much I adore this age. I remember feeling the same about 9 months, and then 13 months, and here we are again at 16 months. It's just such a magical age, he's learning new things every day and our house is just so full of happiness and love at the moment. Henry is such a happy, amenable little thing. Gone is the clingy baby that cried with the pain of reflux and his allergies, fed all night and required attention all day and in his place is a happy, content little boy. Tears and tantrums are very rare, he does as he's told and smiles and giggles all day, I don't know what we ever did to deserve him.

Nothing particularly out of this world happens in our house; we go out for coffee and snack time after a nap or we sing 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' to which Henry only does the head, knees and ears parts (super cute). We eat roast chicken together at the table as a three, watch Peppa Pig so often that we know the words, read the same books, play with the same toys. We marvel over new words and laugh at new expressions, cuddle lots and kiss often. Our life is so very simple at the moment but I'm loving every minute of it...I just wish I could find the pause button.

Just dinner time, but I love it.

Just snack time in Tesco cafe, but absolutely perfect.

Just a car journey, but being a three makes it so much better.